Printing apparatus



May 20 1924 G'. J. EVANS I PRINTING APPARATUS.

- Filed May 29, 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 12v ii '72 19 f .Zizverdm;

May 20 1924. 1,494,831

' G. J. EVANS v PRINTING APPARATUS Filed May 29 1920 A Sheets-Sheet 2 7.60 mmmm.

May 20 1-924.

' s. J. EVANS PRINTING APPARATUS Filed May 29. 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Lli 1'11 veni'an i y. aw,

flfzarnqys- May 20, 1924. 1,494,831 G. J. ,EVANS PRINTING APPARATUS Filed May 29. 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jig. .9.

I72 ven'iat Patented May 20, 1924.

UNITED STATES GUY J. EVANS, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

PRINTING APPARATUS.

Application filed May 29, 1920. Serial No. 385,344.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUY J. EVANS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Bufialo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful 1m? provements in Printing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a printing machine and more particularly to a machine for addressing shipping bills, invoices, statements, envelopes, cards, tags, etc., although the same may be used for other purposes.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a machine of this character which is simple and durable in construction, and which can be operated easily and expeditiously with a minimum expenditure. of power and labor.

Another object is the provision of automatic means for inking the impression roller in conjunction with the raising and lowering of the printingcarriage of the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable scraping device for the ink supply roller.

A still further object is to provide auxiliary means for uniformly distributing the ink on the ink impression roller;

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the machine embodying my invention. Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof. Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 33, Fig. 2. Figure 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4:, Fig. 1. Figure 5 is a vertical transverse section on line 55, Fig. 2. Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical section, on an enlarged scale, on line 66, Fig. 1. Figure 7 is a fragmentary side elevation of the machine, partly in section, showing the carri age and associated parts in their elevated or inoperative position. Figure 8 is a perspective view of a form of stencil for use in this machine. Figure 9 is a fragmentary longitudinal section of the machine equipped with a modified form of stenciling device. Figure 10 is a fragmentary top plan view of the latter.

Similar characters of reference refer to like parts throughout the several views.

The main frame of the machine for supporting the working parts thereof may be of any suitable construction, but as shown in the drawings, preferably comprises a horizontal table supported at its ends on legs or standards 16.

17 represents a platen or printing face ranged on opposite sides of the supporting.

table and extending a suitable distance in wardly and transversely thereof and against which one of the longitudinal edges of the article to be printed is placed. Each of these gage bars is adjustably mounted on the table so'as to be capable of movement either backwardly or forwardly relatively to the printing position, this adjustment being preferably effected by a thumb screw 20 secured to the table and passing through a longitudinal slot 21 and longitudinal rearward extensions 191 at the outer ends of the gage bar. 22 represents the printing'stencil whereby a printed impression may be made upon the article which is placed upon the platen 17 by pressing ink through this stencil from the upper side thereof while the latter is placed over the article to be printed. s stencil ma be of anv suitable construction but preferably comprises a frame 23 of cardboard or similar material and a stencilizable sheet 24secured thereto, the address or other printable matter being formed in this sheet by cutting the same therein or forming the same thereon by an ordinary typewriter. This stencil is adapted to be moved vertically toward and from the platen and article resting thereon and for this purpose it is detachably mounted or held on a vertically swinging carrier plate or support 25 secured at its rear end to the front ends of a pair of vertically movable arms 26, 26 arranged lengthwiseof the table and pivotally connectedat their rear ends to horizontal pivot bolts 27, 27 mounted in suitable brackets 28'. 28 secured to the upper side of the rear end of the supportingtable of the machine. A printing opening 29 is arranged in this carrier plate and in a position to register with the stencilized sheet 2 10f the stencil.

The means for producing an impression of the stencil on the article to be printed are preferably constructed as follows:

30 represents a'printing carriage or frame which is capable of swinging or moving vertically relatively to the table and as shown is pivotally, connected at its rear end and on opposite sides thereof to. the outer portions'of the pivot bolts 27, 27 to which the arms 26 of the stencil carrier plate 25 are pivoted. The vertically swinging movement of this carriage is controlled by means of a vertically reciprocating connecting rod 31 provided at its lower end with a strap 32 embracing an eccentric 33 fixed on a horizontal shaft 34 driven by any suitable source of power. The upper end of this connecting rod passes through anopening 150 in the table and is connected to an oscillatory cross bar 35 arranged horizontally and centrally of the carriage and journaled at its opposite ends in openings 36' in the opposite side walls thereof. Arranged on the front end of this carriage is an ink impression or printing roller 37 which is mounted on a horizontal shaft 370 the lower operative portion of said roller projecting below the bottom of the carriage. The surface of the impression roller may be supplied with ink in any suitable manner, but preferably by means which comprise an ink supply roller 38 journaled on a transverse shaft 380 in therear part of the carriage and whose lower portion is immersed in the ink contained within an ink fountain or well i 39 suitably secured to the carriage, an ineven distribution of the ink on the impression roller, an auxiliary distributing or vibratingmember is provided which is preferably in the form of a hollow metallic roller 43 loosely mounted on a cross pin 44 at the front end of the carriage and engaging the adjacent distributing and impression rollers 41 and 37 respectively. The ends of'the distributing roller are provided with cam faces or flanges 45 between which the auxiliary roller 43 is arranged and whose opposite ends engage the inner faces of said cam faces, so that upon rotation of the dis trib'uting and impression rollers, the auxiliary roller is shifted from side to side across the peripheries of these rollers and o-wing'to its loose mounting on the cross pin a4 it receives a vibrating motion from these rollers, whereby a more even distribution of the ink is obtained.

Various means may be employed for detachably holding the stencil on its carrier plate during the printing operation, but as shown in the drawings, these means preferably comprise a retaining plate 47 hinged at its rear end to the upper side of the stencil carrier plate 25 by hinges a8, and. flat springs 49 substantially in the form of the letter J, secured at their rear ends to the front ends of the arn'1s'26, the lower sides of the curved front ends bearing against the opposite longitudinal edges of the upper side of said retaining plate while their upper sides bear against the hub-s 50 on the opposite ends of the impression roller 37. A printing opening 51 is also arranged in this retaining plate and in a position to register with the opening 29 in the carrier plate and the stencilized sheet 24 of the stencil. These springs 49 hearing on the opposite longitudinal edges of the retaining plate yieldingly hold the stencil in position on the carrier plate. Upright pins 53 arranged on opposite sides of the carrier plate 25 and in rear of the opening 29 thereof and passing through apertures 54 in the retaining plate, serve to gage the stencil at its rear edge, while upright flanges 55 arranged on the opposite longitudinal sides of said carrier plate serve to gage the stencil at its side edge.

The preferred means for swinging the stencil retaining plate upwardly, when the carriage is in its elevated position, as shown in Fig. 7, and thereby permit of the insertion and removal of stencils when desired, are constructed as follows:

Pivotally mounted on one side of the forward extension 56 of the stencil carrier 25 is a vertically swinging actuating arm 57 having a handle or finger piece 58 extending outwardly therefrom and arranged a suitable distance from the outer end thereof. This actuating arm is adapted to co-operate with the forward end portion 59 of the re taining plate 47, which portion is preferably curved upwardly and is provided with a longitudinal slot 60 to receive the outer end of said arm. In elevating or swinging the retaining plate upwardly to permit of the insertion. or removal of a stencil, the operator grasps the finger piece of the actuating arm 57 and turns it upwardly and rearwardly, the finger piece bearing against the underside of the extension 59 of said plate and gradually forcing the latter upwardly against the resistance of the springs 49. During this movement, the free outer end of the actuating arm is guided in the slot 60 of the retaining plate. While in this elevated position, asshown in Fig. ,7, a stencil can be readily inserted or removed. It is obvious, that, when the operator releases his grasp from the finger piece 58, the retaining plate will drop to its horizontal operative position by the pressure of the springs 49. The

' actuating arm is held in its horizontal inactive position by a stop lug 61 arranged on the adjacent side of the stencil carrier plate against which the lower edge of said actuating arm rests, as shown in Figs. 1, 4E and 5.

The stencil carrier plate 25 is connected with the printing carriage 30 in such a manner that it swings vertically therewith so that when these parts are in their elevated position, as shown in Fig. 7, the operator can conveniently remove the printed article and substitute an unprinted one therefor by placing the same in position on the platen 17, this operation being repeated for printing each article. This feeding of the articles to be printed may be accomplished automatically, but inasmuch as this forms no part of the present invention, no automatic means have been shown for this purpose. The means, whereby the vertically swinging movement of the printing carriage is simultaneously imparted to the stencil carrier plate, are preferably constructed as follows:

Projecting upwardly from the rear end of each of the vertically movable arms 26 but in front of the pivotal connection thereof, is a trip or lifting finger which terminates short of the underside of the ink fountain 39. These trip fingers are adapted to be engaged by a tappet bar 66 arranged transversely of the printing carriage and secured to opposite sides thereof by screws 67. Thus, as the printing carriage is swung upwardly throu h the medium of the connecting rod 31 and eccentric 33, the tappet bar 66, being in' the path of the trip fingers of the arms 26, engages these fingers and causes the same to move backwardly and thereby elevates the stencil carrier plate simultaneously with the printing carriage. In the normal hori zontal position of the printing carriage and stencil carrier, the tappet bar 66 is so located with respect to the trip fingers 65, that there is a slight clearance between these parts, so that upon raising the carriage, the same is elevated independently of the stencil carrier during the first part of, its stroke, after which said tappet bar engages the trip fingers, thereafter raising the carrier simultaneously with the printing carriage. By this construction and arrangement, an intervening space is provided between the respective members, permitting of raising and lowering the retaining plate for the insertion and removal of a stencil when the said members are in their elevated position, as shown in Fig. 7. It will be noted as shown in Figs. 3 and 7, that the connecting rod 31 is offset rearwardly of the oscillatory cross bar 35 v and the bent portion 63 of said rod passes around the stencil carrier by which arrangement interference of the connecting rod with other parts of the machine is eliminated.

The rotation of the ink supply roller 38 and impression roller 37 together with the intermediate roller 40 and distributing roller 41 is preferably effected by means which operate in conjunction with the vertically swinging printing carriage 30 and whereby said rollers are driven intermittently.

Fixed to the outer end of the distributing roller shaft 42 is a gear wheel whlch pawl or detent which co-operates with the ribs of the gear wheel 70. This pawl is provided on its inner end with a nose 76 which is adapted to engage the upper face of a rib when the printing carriage is in its horizontal operative position, while depending from its outer end is a tail 77 which is provided with a stop 78 normally engaging the outer face of the bracket 74. Thus, when the printing carriage is swung upwardly about its pivot, the adjacent rib 73 of the gear wheel 70 engages the nose of the pawl 75, which is prevented from swinging outwardly about its pivot .by its tail abutting against the opposing side of the bracket 74, whereupon, as-the carriage continues to rise, said gear wheel is caused to rotate forwardly and thereby transmit motion to the ink supply roller, intermediate roller, and distributing roller. 'As the car riage continues to rise, the gear wheel gradually recedes rearwardly from the pawl and at a predetermined point the respective rib 73 becomes disengaged from said pawl, thereby preventing further rotation of the gear. Upon the downward movement of the carriage, the next succeeding rib, which has previously been advanced to the proper position to be engaged by the pawl, trips past the latter, which when engaged by the lower side of said rib, is caused to swing downwardly and returns again to its normal' position, due to the overbalanced tail 77 thereof, as soon as the rib falls below its nose. This cycle of operations is repeated during each raising and lowering of the printing carriage, thereby producing an automatic inking of the impression roller.

The automatic inking of the impression roller supplies suiiicient ink thereto for all ordinary work, but should it be desired to have a thicker coating of ink on the impression roller for certain kinds of printing, a handle 79 may be applied to the right hand end of the distributing roller shaft 42, which may be turned manually a sufficient number of times to'supply the impression roller with the desired amount of ink.

To remove any surplus amount of ink from the supply roller before it is delivered to the intermediate roller and thence to the distributing and impression rollers, a scraping device 80 is provided which may Pivotally mounted to swing verti- &

be of felt or other appropriate material and adjustable toward and from the supply roller. This scraping device is located so that it engages the periphery of the ink supply roller 38 in rear of the intermediate roller 40 and above the level of the ink in the fountain 39. For this purpose, said scraping device is preferably arranged in an inclined position relatively to the ink supply roller and is secured to the front end of a horizontal adjusting plate 81 guided at its opposite longitudinal edges on ways 82. To prevent vertical displacement of this plate, the ways are provided with screws 83 which engage longitudinal slots 84 in the longitudinal edges of said plate. The adjustment of the plate which carries the scraping device is preferably effected by a pair of adjusting screws 85 supported at their rear ends against longitudinal movement in U-shaped bearings 86 secured to the upper rear end of the ink fountain while their screw-threaded front ends are operatively connected with attaching lugs 87 provided on the adjusting plate 81. Thus, when these adjusting screws are turned in one direction or the other, the scraping device is correspondingly moved toward or from the inksupply roller and the amount of surplus ink to be scraped therefrom regulated accordingly.

In the operation of this machine, assuming the printing carriage and stencil carrier to be in their elevated position as shown in Fig. 7, the operator places the desired stencil on the carrier by lifting the retaining plate to the position shown in said figure and after properly positioning the same thereon, lowers the retaining plate so as to firmly hold the stencil in place. While in this position, he also places the article to be printed on the platen. with its rear edge hearing against the gage bars 19, after which the printing carriage, together with the stencil carrier, is allowed to swing downwardly bringing the latter into engagement with said article and pressing the impression roller against the exposed printing area of the stencil whereby the ink from this roller will penetrate the printing characters in the stencil and produce the same upon the article. After this printin operation, the printing carriage and stencil carrier are again elevated, enabling the operator to replace the printed article for an unprinted one and if desired substitute a different stencil for the one previously used, this operation being repeated for printing each article.

Referring now to Figs. 9 and which show a modified form of stencil and stencil carrier applicable to the machine heretofore described, 90 represents the stencil frame or carrier which is suitably secured to the front ends of the vertically movable arms 26 and provided with a printing opening 91. dies, respectively, arranged transversely of the supporting table of the machine, the front spindle being removably supported at its opposite ends preferably by means of spring clips 94 secured at opposite sides to the front end of the stencil carrier. The rear spindle is likewise removably supported by means of spring clips 95 secured to the front ends of the arms 26. 96 represents the printing stencil which, in this instance, is preferably in the form of a stencilizable sheet and provided with a plurality of addresses or other printable matter which it is desired to reproduce. This stencil sheet is wound upon one of the spindles, preferably the rear one, and then passes forwardly against the underside of the carrier 90 and is attached to the front spindle 92 which acts as a take up roll for the sheet. Thus, when it is desired to successively printthe addresses appearing on the stencilized sheet onto envelopes or other articles, the operator rotates the front spindle until the desired address is opposite the printing opening in the stencil carrier and then causes the impression to be made on the article as heretofore described. After producing this address, the stencil sheet is advanced again for printing the next address on another envelope or article, this operation being repeated for printing each individual address.

This machine is very efficient in operation, permits of expeditiously addressing envelopes and other articles with a minimum expenditure of power and labor and at a correspondingly reduced cost, and as a whole is very simple and compact in construction.

I claim as my invention:

1. A. printing apparatus comprising a table adapted to support the article to be printed, a vertically swinging printing carriage pivotally mounted at its rear end on said table and having an impression roller, a vertically swinging stencil carrier arranged below said printing carriage and pivotally connected to the same pivotal axis as the latter, and means for operatively connecting said stencil with said printing carriage whereby the former is movable simultaneously with the latter.

2. A printing apparatus comprising a table adapted to support the article to be printed, a vertically swinging printing carriage pivotally mounted at its rear end on said table, a vertically swinging stencil carrier arranged below said printing carriage and connected at its rear end to the same pivotal axis as the latter, an ink roller mounted on said carriage for producing an impression of the stencil on the article to be printed, means for actuating said printing carriage, and means for operatively connecting said stencil carrier with said print- 92, 93 represent front and rear spinhingedly connected to said stencil carrier and having an opening therein registering with the printed portion of the stencil, a gage for the rear edge of the latter comprising pins projecting upwardly from said carrier and passing through openings 'in said retaining plate, yieldable means for holding the latter against the stencil, and an ink roller mounted on said printing carriage for producing an impression of the stencil on the article to be printed.

GUY J. EVANS. 

